


To Die Would Be An Awfully Big Adventure

by Spaghettisaurus_Rex



Series: The New and Improved 52 [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Batman: A Death in the Family, Gen, robin!jason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-05
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-04-19 00:25:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14225109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaghettisaurus_Rex/pseuds/Spaghettisaurus_Rex
Summary: What happened after the end?(or, Jason is dead and there's not much he can do about it.)





	To Die Would Be An Awfully Big Adventure

            Jason looked down at himself. He wasn’t hurting anymore, but that was not a good thing. He had tried and tried and _tried_ so hard, but it still wasn’t enough. He failed all the same. He stifled a sob.

            A hand gently touched his shoulder. Somehow he knew who it was without even turning around.

            “Just for the record,” she said, her voice conveying real emotion, “I am sorry.”

            “I really thought he would make it,” Jason replied, his voice a choked whisper. Deep down, no matter how angry he’d gotten at the Batman, at _Bruce_ , he’d still somehow thought the man was unstoppable.

            “I felt that way about someone once,” she said. “He didn’t make it either. Nothing makes it better. But I’m sure he loved you.”

            “He deserves to hate me. I should’ve just listened to him.”

            “Would you really change things if you could?”

            “No. I’d do it again. Because she was my mom and I needed to find her.”

            “Then I’m sure he understands.”

            Jason bit his lip and stared at the ground. He looked so small lying there, skinny and bruised and broken.

            “For some reason,” he said as he looked at himself, “all I can think of is that quote from _Peter Pan_ , you know, the one that’s like, ‘To die would be an awfully big adventure.’”

            “I know it,” she replied. He still wasn’t looking at her, but he could imagine she was smiling just a little.

            “Well I don’t want any more adventures!” he shouted, voice cracking as tears rolled from the corners of his eyes. “I wanna go home, and be a normal person, and worry about my grades and whether I’ll get into a good college! I want to tell Alfred I’m sorry, and Bruce too, for that matter! I- I- I’m not _ready_.”

            “You got what everyone gets,” she answered, her voice not unkind, but firm all the same. “You got a lifetime.”

            He turned around to face her, ready to yell more, but then stopped. She looked so sad, and so much younger than he thought she would. He wasn’t sure, but it looked a little like some of her thick, dark eyeliner was smudged from wiping at her eyes.

            “Where will I go?” he asked instead, his voice small.

            “That’s not for me to say,” she answered, shaking her head. “But,” she continued, her voice becoming conspiratorial, “I wouldn’t worry.”

            She winked, giving him a little half-smile as she held out her hand.

            Jason took a deep breath, then took her hand.

            “Well,” he said, “what’s one more adventure?”

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I've been toying with for a while. Then I read The Kindly Ones and, upon getting bummed out by how that ended, decided to bum myself out more by actually writing the thing! I think I need a (second) bowl of ice cream.


End file.
